ON P'NOY 100 DAYS:

Sorsogon officials, laymen support P-Noy in RH, mark 100 days in office high
By Danny O. Calleja

SORSOGON CITY -- For Sorsogon political leaders and laymen, the August 23 Quirino Grandstand hostage taking nor President Benigno Aquino III’s burgers and pizzas in New York are no issues as they evaluate the performance of the President on his first 100 days in office.

“I think, what is most classic in P-Noy as he reaches his 100th day as President is his official position which favors the proposed reproductive health (RH) measure being pushed for enactment by Congress,” Rebecca Aquino, the most senior member of the provincial legislative board said here Thursday.

Aquino, the chairperson of the Sanggunian Panlalawigan’s (SP) Committee on Women and Family Welfare said that position of P-Noy has been unwavering amidst threats of civil disobedience and excommunication from bishops.

The President demonstrated exceptional courage which his predecessors including his mother, the late Pres. Corazon Aquino did not possess in taking the position that leads towards a collision course with the Catholic Church.

“This is the President we wanted insofar as the concerns on population, family planning or RH are involved as it is what the Filipino people need towards attaining a meaningful family life,” the lady local legislator said.

P-Noy braved, first, the threat of civil disobedience aired by the Church and then the “incommunicado” warning publicly sounded by one of its bishops against him in maintaining a pro-choice stand which the Catholic Bishop Conference (CBC) is strongly opposing, she said.

“I know that majority of the Sorsogon people and their local political leaders are behind that position of the President—some silently and some vocally,” said board member Aquino; adding that she agrees with Sen. Franklin Drilon when he said that the Catholic Church is pressuring the President with those threats.

It is good that the President is so far maintaining his position despite those threats as it is best for the Filipinos.

“He should not mind the arrogance of the bishops and priests over this matter for once he vows to their whims, the Republic becomes the loser,” she stressed.

“And from our end,” the board member said “although we are not happy watching our President fitted against the Church but since it is there at the making of the bishops, we assure P-Noy that we, who are mostly Christians are behind him in this particular fight”.

Vice-governor Antonio Escudero Jr., the presiding officer of the provincial board said he goes by board member Aquino in her opinion regarding P-Noy’s first 100 days and added that “what we see in the President now is a leader of courage and strong political leader who pursues what he believes is good for the nation”.

“Now the bishops found their match in their culpable disregard of the separation of the Church and the State in our present President,” the vice-governor said.

He said that he also agree with House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman in saying that the call of bishops for civil disobedience "could turn into religious defiance as Catholics may opt to continue and escalate their support for the enactment of a nationwide and comprehensive reproductive health law which is health-oriented, right-based and development-driven."

"This eventuality would further embarrass the Catholic hierarchy following its desistance from ex-communicating President Benigno Aquino III for his stand on voluntary contraceptive use," the vice-governor quoted Lagman as saying in a recent statement.

Leovic Dioneda, the mayor here said he is impressed by the way P-Noy undertakes the anti-corruption measures of his administration during his first 100 days which “I hope would be unrelenting until the last day of his six-year term.”

“If P-Noy is to be rated, I give him a high mark because he is the only President who is making good his campaign promise of stamping out corruption in government, at least during the first 100 days of his administration. The next days, it remains to be seen but we are keeping our fingers crossed, he’ll keep it up” Dioneda said.

The city mayor said he goes with the observation of Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero that P-Noy performed well in the government’s campaign against graft and corruption but not all “those people around him” who are still vested with self interest against the interest of the people.

Dioneda and the Escudero’s who are allies in the local political arena supported Pres. Aquino in the May 10 elections.

Jose Solis, the former representative of the second district of the province and a loyalist of ex-Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now congresswoman for Pampanga said it is pre-matured to judge the performance of P-Noy during his first 100 days.

“Not yet. Six years is still a long way to go and anything can happen within that period which may bare how really is he as a President,” Solis said.

He however admitted that the first 100 days are “quite satisfactory” in the President’s handling of the affairs of the State but “very disappointing” for his immediate predecessor that has been targeted by the cleansing process being initiated.

Nelson Doloiras, president of the Sorsogon Chamber of Commerce Industry (ACCI) said the management style of Pres. Aquino has already been made to work in his first 100 days and “that’s very likely is what we would be having from the remaining 2,090 days.”

“In his fight against graft and corruption, we see it on the right track although some precautionary measures have to be put in place so that those who are out to derail it do not find any leeway,” he said.

In his running of the affairs of the State, it is generally plausible as the flaws committed were negligible and could be charged to “beginners’ syndrome”, Doloiras said.

On the apparent efforts being exerted by P-Noy’s detractors to weaken the foundation of his administration, the leader of the 200-strong business aggrupation in the province said, “it’s still superficial to be felt”.

He cited the jueteng issue, the legal questions initiated by people identified with the previous Arroyo administration against Pres. Aquino’s first executive orders, the alleged mishandling of the Quirino Granstand hostage taking as some of these derailing moves.

“In the next days after his first 100, what we are closely watching is how P-Noy could make a difference in handling the insurgency problem,” Doloiras said.

All the other presidents after Marcos tried the peacemaking approach by initiating ceasefires and peace talks but failed to put an end to the problem that has been dragging on since over four decades now.

P-Noy’s mother started the peaceful process by declaring a ceasefire and drawing the New People’s Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front, the armed wing and political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) respectively into the negotiation table shortly after she assumed the presidency of a revolutionary government following the fall of Marcos.

Doloiras said the Cory government treated the rebels like a baby which the military disagreed and the peace negotiations ended without attaining concrete outcomes.

“We still have to see what P-Noy would have as an effective solution to the insurgency problem where the other presidents failed,” he added.

“P-Noy is okay”, Efren Millapre, a man on the street told the PNA on Wednesday. “Kay P-Noy, walang nakawan sa gobyerno, walang maanomalyang proyekto at walang gaanong gulo sa pulitika na kumakalampag sa atin halos araw-araw (In P-Noy there is no thievery in government, no anomalous project and not much political turmoil nagging us almost everyday),” he said. (PNA Bicol/PIA/mal)

Salceda says: Better times ahead for Filipinos under P-Noy
By Danny O. Calleja

LEGAZPI CITY -- Compared to the three presidents before him, Filipinos see better times ahead under President Benigno S. Aquino III, according to a top Philippine economist from the Bicol region.

Incumbent Albay Governor Joey Salceda, who is an erstwhile economic adviser of former President and now Pampanga Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, made this assessment based on economic considerations that the Aquino administration has been able to build on during its first 100 days.

Salceda said these considerations, used as yardstick in measuring and comparing President Aquino’s performance with the past three administrations, are a strong peso and radiant financial market that the national economy achieved in the past 100 days since June 30, 2010, when the only son of the late former President Corazon C. Aquino assumed the country's highest post.

“It is under Aquino's administration that the peso strengthened the most in the first 100 days at +.5.5 percent, followed by President Ramos at +1.85 percent, while all the other two posted negative -- Arroyo at -3.53 percent and Joseph Estrada at -3.92 percent," Salceda said.

The Albay governor claimed that President Aquino has brought back business confidence, a key indicator in economic growth with a positive +22 percent, followed by Ramos but still negative at -nine percent, PGMA at negative -18 percent and Estrada at -28 percent.

“P-Noy's first 100 days exhibited a strong financial markets backed by 'real peso votes' while stock prices and currency movements are forward looking. These factors have been proven to be good predictor of economic trends,” Salceda said.

They discount the forward impacts of current policies and the overall world view of top management as they play out in the dynamics of international competition and global market trends, he added.

"Surely, contrary opinion would swiftly resort to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remittances and higher risk appetite for extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses (EMEs) but these trends persisted throughout all four administrations."

Salceda said that based on these objective measurements, President Aquino has performed best among the past four administrations.

“In short, markets uniformly and unequivocally point to better times ahead for Filipinos," he said.

These yardstick measures indicate that at least, robust markets suggest there is fuel for Philippine growth, now it is the turn of the administration to rev up the engines to use such fuel.

He claimed that the first 100 days are affirmatively auspicious -- the next 100 days are more critical in determining how the Aquino administration will convert strong financial markets into programs and projects that prompt positive consequences in the lives of ordinary Filipinos.

President Aquino's policy on good governance has created sufficient impetus for an initial spate of growth as the public trust and business confidence it elicits will lift private investment rate and tax collection efficiency, he noted.

This will sustain public capital outlays very much, and with the public-private partnership paradigm he has skillfully picked to sustain higher output expansion, would create jobs and lower prices, thus reduce poverty.

Salceda, less than a month before the May 10, 2010 elections, bolted the then ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD party of the Arroyo administration and joined the Liberal Party whose standard-bearer was his classmate and now President Aquino.

At that point, Salceda predicted that the country’s economy would improve under "Noynoy" Aquino’s leadership.

"I have come to the preliminary conclusion that a new mandate under an Aquino presidency would have the highest statistical probability of triggering a significant increase in the investment rate from the current 14 percent of economic output," he said.

Salceda claimed then that an Aquino presidency could increase it instantly by eight percentage points, or almost P642 billion more in private investments in the first 18 months.

"This would create 642,000 more jobs on top of the organic capacity of the economy for job creation," he added. (PNA Bicol/PIA)